If so, please raise your hand.
there we have jenny jenny you cannot mute yourself
sorry hi can you hear me yes please spell your full name sure it's jenny j-e-n-n-y k-o
you swear from the tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes and your address ma'am it is uh 1241 east oxford street i am uh adam's wife
oh okay
are you supporting this application
yes I am supporting
husband and wives don't always agree
oh gosh
all right thank you
anyone else
to testify in this case
planning commission
yes chair I'm sorry
oh I'm sorry
you have someone else
They can unmute themselves.
Anyone else who's testifying, please unmute yourself.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, your name, sir?
My name is Ravi Byanker.
Please spell by it.
First name Ravi, R-A-V like victory, I.
Last name Byanker, B as in boy, A-Y-A-N as in Nancy, K-E-R.
Your address?
My home address is 1416 Frankfurt Avenue.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Make sure of your call.
My business address is 951 Frankfurt Avenue.
It's like a block away from Elwood.
I totally support my business neighbor having this outdoor seating.
I think it's great for our end of Frankfurt Avenue.
I would love them to have outdoor seating.
it's good for our corridor i'm also a board member of the fish town kensington area business
improvement district and i think it's great so i fully support it thanks thank you
it's great so i fully support it thanks thank you you got a wife and a competitor supporting you
all right um anyone else no more hands chair thank you planning commission
um good afternoon board good afternoon chair and members of the board this is greg waldman
Planning Commission staff. This parcel was rezoned from medium industrial to single family
residential in 2015 in accordance with recommendations from the comprehensive plan
and support from the community. The zoning board granted a variance in 2016 for a restaurant and
rear addition. The applicant is now seeking an expansion of a previously approved use
which would permit them to have outdoor dining. An expansion of the existing
resident resident restaurant would not alter the essential character of the frankfurt avenue corridor
which is primarily zoned commercial mixed use on the nearby blocks accordingly we recommend that
the requested variance be granted thank you mi 2021-002-015-1007 frankfurt avenue my vote is yes
Harold Teneri, my vote is yes.
Confessor Plaza, my vote is yes.
Jane Snell, my vote is yes.
Number three on our list, MI 2021, that's 002, 021, 1400 South 33rd Street.
Brett Feldman is the attorney of record.
Tasker Morris, RCO, supports this application.
mr feldman good afternoon please identify yourself and i'll swear you in
sure good afternoon um brett feldman 1835 market street philadelphia pennsylvania 19103
i represent the property owner and uh the applicant uh ceo automotive
about your last name for the record feldman f-e-l-d-m-a-n you swear a firm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Ms. Canary has some questions for
you. Hi, Mr. Feldman. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of
this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes. Yes to all. Thank you.
may proceed can you can you see my screen now not just not yet but it's it's spiraling
should be my exhibit package now all we have is brett fellman has started screen sharing
okay let me uh yeah i've locked up here hold on let me
you can try um stop sharing and then share it again yep let me try do that
okay let's try let's try this one more time
okay can you see my screen now yes we do okay great i'll get right to it um again i represent
seota automotive um the board might remember this case we were actually in front of the zoning board
almost a year ago i'm going to go right to the pictures um super subaru dealership correct this
is a new Subaru dealership. It is almost complete. Subaru and Sioka has made a massive investment
in building a almost downtown, state-of-the-art dealership all enclosed. This is the location
site photos right off of 76 at between Reed and between Dickinson and 33rd and 34th Street here.
We came to the board. Here it is. You get off at university. You go right on to the dealership. This is the location of where it is. We were in front of the board about a year ago for accessory signs. I'll show you a rendering of, if you've been by there, it's a five-story building now that's been constructed.
uh it was it was a blighted industrial parcel before this is uh the rendering which um
This is the rendering, which it looks, if you've been by there, you know, the renderings, a lot of times they they're sexy and they don't turn out the way they look.
These this is what it looks like. Basically, it's tremendous what's out there.
We got all these accessory signs approved. They're above the second floor.
That's why we had to go to the zoning board.
The need for that was because obviously 76 is elevated, which is, you know, the primary for wayfinding to get to and from the location.
So we needed to have it a little bit higher because of, you know, we're 50 feet, 60 feet here.
We find Subaru took a last look at this before they kind of after after approval and said we need three of the signs increased from 18 to 31 square feet, 22 to 25 and 41 to 77 square feet.
So we're back here for the signs that were already approved by the Zoning Board, but the Zoning Board approved them.
So any approvals that change and make the signs slightly bigger need to come back to the Zoning Board.
We met with the Tasco Morris Neighbors Association. They have a letter of support at Exhibit Tab 10.
They've been tremendously supportive throughout this project.
We're bringing literally hundreds of jobs to this location, hiring in the neighborhood.
and these you know it's basically these signs here just get slightly just get slightly bigger
one goes from 22 to 25 as I said and that that's really you know the the application
wayfinding Subaru thought was important so folks could get off at the exit here that they were a
little bit bigger they also changed their national size branding so that's that that's why we're you
know, we now went through this whole approval process to make signs four or five, ten square
feet bigger than previously. I can go through more details if you'd like. Not to interrupt you,
but I think the board is, correct me if any board member disagrees, I think we're familiar with
this application, and it's really just about increasing the size of the signage. Very slight,
yes. I have Paul Frank, who is director of special projects for Sioka, if he could be promoted,
and if I could just have him adopt my testimony.
Yes, can he raise his hand, please?
Paul, are you on the line?
Can you raise your hand?
Paul Frank Sioka.
He's available.
Hello?
Hi, good afternoon.
Please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
hi my name is paul
lost you paul
i paul if you're not there again yeah i'm here okay name is my name is paul frank p-a-u-l-f-r-a-n-k
seven five zero southwest and boulevard quakertown pennsylvania one eight nine five one
Do you swear if I'm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Feldman.
Yes, just briefly, Mr. Frank, I believe your title is Director of Special Projects for
Sioka, and you have been the driving force for the last, what, three years to make this
project, this many-million-dollar project a reality, correct?
That's correct.
And you've heard my testimony concerning the need to slightly increase the size of
of the signs at the request of Subaru for wayfinding
and for branding purposes, correct?
Three of the signs, yes, correct.
And do you adopt my testimony as true and accurate
and as your own?
Thank you.
I have no further questions for Mr. Frank.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
Anyone else would like to testify in this case,
please raise your hand.
No hands chair.
Thank you. Planning commission.
Good afternoon, chair and members of the board.
My name is Greg Waldman, planning commission staff.
We had previously made a recommendation
for the prior submission on September 16th, 2020.
uh not objecting to the granting the variance for the rooftop sign
and the proposed signage but not supporting that the the large sign um abutting the
and the proposed signage, but not supporting the large sign abutting the access ramp.
So it doesn't appear that the conditions have changed the size for the sign
enlarging since that time. So accordingly, we request that the variance not be granted.
MI 2021-002-021, 1400 South 33rd Street.
My vote is yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
As always, thank you for your time and consideration.
Mr. Feldman, you talked to your client.
I think their name should be pronounced Chioka, as opposed to Sioka.
Goodbye.
Talk to you.
I will.
Thank you.
All right.
Number four on our list, MI 2021-001-977, 178 West Seymour Street.
Rachel Pritzker is the attorney of record.
Faith, CDC coordinating RCO, sent a letter of support.
Solo Germantown RCO opposes this application. Ms. Pritzker, good afternoon. You're still under oath from this morning. Please identify yourself. And Ms. Tenere has some questions for you.
Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
Hi, Rachel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with your RCO, the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Thank you. You may proceed.
Thank you.
I'm going to share my screen.
this is Rachel while you're setting up I just have a quick question did you meet with both
RCOs so faith CDC is the coordinating RCO and then overlapping and you know like a affected RCO
is solo Germantown so were they present was solo present at the the coordinating RCO yes okay
And I believe Charles Richardson from the councilman's office is on as well. He was at that meeting. I was, my colleague was. So if there's any questions about that, he would be, I'm sure, happy to answer.
Thank you.
So this is 178 West Seymour.
This is a proposal to erect a semi-detached structure with six dwelling units.
We're actually providing revised plans for only four dwelling units, which is why FATE CDC provided a letter of support.
We agreed to remove two units, do four units, including one ADA unit.
This is a 1,700-square-foot vacant lot, according to OPA.
and this is on a block where 50 percent of the lots on the property side of the street so four
out of the eight are currently vacant the property generated two refusals first is because at rsa
five you cannot have more than a single family uh residential use and we're proposing uh originally
six but now four dwelling units and the second refusal um is the rsa require if if use requires
a side yard to be at least five feet wide however we're proposing a three foot side yard um in order
to be more in context with the properties on the block and to provide a little bit wider of a
structure. The other thing worth noting is that there's a significant amount of multifamily on
this block and the adjacent blocks, as I mentioned, there was a lot of vacancy. Four out of the eight
properties are currently vacant, but they're at 168 is the dwelling unit and a tailor shop. 172
is two units 173 is two units 174 is three units in an office 175 is two units 176 is three units
183 is three units an additional unit from community living of up to i think it's one
unrelated individual uh three unrelated individuals um this also uh project took into consideration
the city's comprehensive plan um this project is in the upper northwest district plan and uh
In page 27 and 26, this is involved with the core growth area in the 2035 plan, which proposes for more dense multifamily housing near commercial.
um proposes uh for more uh dense multi-family housing near commercial corridors this is a
stone's throw from wayne avenue so we do believe that this is within the spirit of the 2035
comprehensive plan which will allow individuals to help support any of the amenities and the
redevelopment of wayne avenue and so according to the district it's also location for multi-family